Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Renewable Energy

Lord Empey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 20 December (HL3914, HL3915, HL3916), whether the fact that renewable energy is a devolved matter means that they did not have any discussions or consultations with the Northern Ireland Executive during or after the introduction of the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive scheme; whether advice was given to the Northern Ireland Executive regarding the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive scheme’s compliance with EU law; and what discussions they have had with the Scottish and Welsh governments regarding their implementation of renewable energy schemes.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme in Great Britain covers England, Scotland and Wales. Section 113 of the Energy Act 2011 contains provisions to enable the Northern Ireland Executive to make regulations to introduce and operate a Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in Northern Ireland. Records suggest officials from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (now the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy - BEIS) discussed the introduction of these provisions with officials in the Northern Ireland Executive. BEIS does not hold records of any subsequent discussion with the Northern Ireland Executive in relation to the design or operation of the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive scheme until March 2016 when the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment confirmed the closure of the RHI scheme in Northern Ireland. There is no record of advice being provided on the Northern Ireland Renewable Heat Incentive scheme’s compliance with EU law. BEIS has engaged closely with the Welsh and Scottish Governments on all amendments to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme in Great Britain, and informed the Northern Ireland Executive in parallel.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Turkey: Migrant Workers

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to join with the Turkish Federation of Employers Associations in making representations to the government of Turkey about the exploitation of Syrians working in Turkey and the restrictions on work permits; and whether they plan to discuss those concerns with the International Labour Organisation.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The UK Government regularly raises human rights issues with Turkish counterparts. The UK Government is supporting work in Turkey to strengthen the Turkish clothing and textile sector's ability to implement the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The project will bring together business, trade unions and civil society to raise awareness of business's role on human rights, promote workplace social dialogue and address the root causes of human rights issues in the sector, including issues relating to Syrian workers.

Islamic State: Crimes against Humanity

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the remarks by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on 20 April (HC Deb, col 996) concerning the gathering and preservation of evidence that could in future be used in a court to hold Daesh to account for its crimes against Shi’a and Sunni Muslims, Christians, Yazidis, Kurds and other groups, what steps they are taking to ensure that genocide committed against Christians is included in their proposals for the prosecution of Daesh.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: An error has been identified in the written answer given on 05 January 2017.The correct answer should have been:

The Government is committed to ensuring there is no impunity for these heinous crimes committed by Daesh, as shown by the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson)'s launching of the global campaign Bringing Daesh to Justice. As a first step in this campaign, we are working with the government of Iraq to bring a proposal before the UN on evidence gathering and preservation in Iraq. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed. This campaign is about justice for all Daesh victims and we expect it to cover all violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of international human rights law by Daesh including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Lord Archer of Weston-Super-Mare: The Government is committed to ensuring there is no impunity for these heinous crimes committed by Daesh, as shown by the Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson)'s launching of the global campaign Bringing Daesh to Justice. As a first step in this campaign, we are working with the government of Iraq to bring a proposal before the UN on evidence gathering and preservation in Iraq. It is vital that this is done now, before evidence is lost or destroyed. This campaign is about justice for all Daesh victims and we expect it to cover all violations of international humanitarian law and violations and abuses of international human rights law by Daesh including war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

Department for Education

Schools: Census

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what information was given to those completing the national school census regarding the sharing of details with the Home Office for immigration purposes.

Lord Nash: The Department for Education (DfE) provide a privacy notice template[1] for schools to use to explain to parents what personal data they collect, why it is collected, who it is shared with and what it is used for. The template we provide to schools also gives parents access to further information about the Department’s use of their children’s data[2]. With regards to data sharing with the Home Office, a copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Home Office and the Department for Education, which covers the sharing of limited information between those parties, is available in the house library. This sharing does not include data relating to the nationality, country of birth and proficiency in English of pupils which is collected solely for Department for Education analysts to use for research. These data items have not, and will not, be shared by the Department for Education with other government departments.Whilst it is not possible for a parent / guardian or an individual child to opt out of the school census collection, there is certain information (including ethnicity, first language, country of birth, nationality and whether a child is the child of someone in the Armed Services) which must always be as declared by the parent / guardian or the pupil. The school census guidance[3] is clear that the return of this information is voluntary and parents can withhold this information if they choose.References:[1] Privacy notice template:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-protection-and-privacy-privacy-notices[2] DfE guidance for how we share data:https://www.gov.uk/guidance/data-protection-how-we-collect-and-share-research-data[3] School census data collection guide:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-census-2016-to-2017-guide-for-schools-and-las

Schools: Census

Lord Scriven: To ask Her Majesty’s Government under what legislation is information from the national school census passed to the Home Office for immigration purposes.

Lord Nash: A copy of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Home Office and the Department for Education which covers the legal basis is available in the house library.

Pupils: Personal Records

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what personal pupil data the Department for Education shares with the Home Office, and for what purpose.

Lord Nash: The Memorandum of Understanding between the Home Office and the Department for Education outlines the purpose and the personal pupil data shared. The Memorandum of Understanding is available in the house library.

Schools: Defibrillators

Lord Storey: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the Oliver King Foundation's five-year campaign to provide defibrillators in schools and public places, and what plans they have to ensure that every school has a defibrillator.

Lord Nash: The Government recognises how important swift access to defibrillators can be in cases of cardiac arrest. The Government applauds the work of organisations such as the Oliver King Foundation in placing defibrillators locally, and raising awareness of sudden cardiac death. The Department’s policy is to encourage schools to purchase a defibrillator as part of their first-aid equipment. To help schools to do so, we have negotiated a deal with NHS Supply Chain to offer defibrillators to schools at a reduced cost, and have published advice on installing and maintaining defibrillators on school premises. Since this scheme was launched in 2014, over 1600 schools have purchased defibrillators through this route. We continue to work with the sector to raise awareness of the scheme and to refine our guidance to schools on installing and maintaining these devices.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Social Services: Greater Manchester

Lord Bradley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much additional revenue will be raised through the adult social care council tax precept by an increase of (1) three per cent in 2017–18, and (2) three per cent in 2018–19, for each of the 10 districts of Greater Manchester.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Government has given local councils the flexibility they have asked for to bring forward funding for adult social care. The table shows how much each council in Greater Manchester could raise in each year if they chose to use this flexibility in full alongside the existing 2 per cent referendum principle; whether or not they wish to do so would be a matter for each council. Potential Adult Social Care precept receipts each year with 3 per cent increaseGreater Manchester Districts2017-182018-19Manchester£6.7 million£11.5 millionMetropolitan Borough of Stockport£6.6 million£11.0 millionTameside£3.7 million£6.3 millionMetropolitan Borough of Oldham£4.0 million£6.8 millionMetropolitan Borough of Rochdale£3.6 million£6.1 millionMetropolitan Borough of Bury£3.5 million£5.8 millionMetropolitan Borough of Bolton£4.7 million£7.9 millionMetropolitan Borough of Wigan£5.3 million£8.9 millionCity of Salford£4.4 million£7.5 millionTrafford£4.2 million£7.1 million

Department for Exiting the European Union

Human Rights: EU Law

Lord Lester of Herne Hill: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they will publish a list of the fundamental rights guaranteed under EU law and explain what approach they intend to take towards them before triggering Article 50.

Lord Bridges of Headley: The UK has a long-standing and proud tradition of ensuring our rights and traditional liberties are protected domestically, and of fulfilling our international human rights obligations. The decision to leave the European Union does not change that, and the​ UK will remain committed to its international human rights obligations. We are about to begin negotiations and it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance.

Department of Health

Antimicrobial Resistance Review

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when they will publish their response to the independent Review on Antimicrobial Resistance, published on 19 May.

Lord O'Shaughnessy: The Government published its response to the Independent Review on Antimicrobial resistance, on the 16 September 2016. A copy of the response, Government response to the Review on Antimicrobial Resistance September 2016, is attached. The Government’s response strongly supported the recommendations to use global financing to reinvigorate both early stage research and the development of new drugs. We continue to work internationally, most recently at the United Nations, to support global action on antimicrobial resistance.



Govt response AMR review
(PDF Document, 539.81 KB)

Hepatitis

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Prior of Brampton on 21 November (HL3153), what plans they have to produce a national improvement framework for hepatitis C.

Lord O'Shaughnessy: The United Kingdom has a comprehensive surveillance system in place combining laboratory diagnoses data, risk behaviour data, outcome data, statistical modelling and service evaluation. This enables the health and social care system to monitor the cascade of care (the pathway for testing and diagnosis to contact with health services through to treatment and outcomes), detect outbreaks, and generate burden estimates. Prevention efforts in minimising harm to people who inject drugs are focused on increasing access to opiate substitution therapies and needle syringe exchange programmes, and the use of disinfection tablets in prisons. NHS England leads on treatment and continues to support National Health Service-led Operational Delivery Networks to provide National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved treatments for hepatitis C. Public Health England supports the Government’s efforts by publishing hepatitis C metrics which are available in the report Hepatitis C in the UK 2016 report: Working towards its elimination as a major public health threat. A copy of the report is attached.



Hepatitis C in the UK report
(PDF Document, 913.68 KB)

Abortion

Lord Alton of Liverpool: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they intend to take following the Care Quality Commission’s findings concerning Marie Stopes abortion clinics.

Lord O'Shaughnessy: Regulatory action in response to the findings in the reports has been taken forward by the Care Quality Commission. The Department continues to monitor the situation with particular regard being had to the statutory power of the Secretary of State to approve independent sector abortion providers to perform the termination of pregnancy under Section 1(3) of the Abortion Act 1967.

Hepatitis: Drugs

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the NHS Commercial Medicines Unit has procured a new Hepatitis C treatment in the last 12 months; and if so, what was the cost.

Lord O'Shaughnessy: The Department’s Commercial Medicines Unit has continued to procure medicines for hepatitis C as part of a nationally agreed programme, established in 2015, which establishes framework agreements. The Unit undertakes a six-monthly rolling regional tender programme on behalf of National Health Service trusts in England, which includes all the new hepatitis C medicines on the market at the time of tendering. Regional annual framework agreements are then established for use by NHS trusts. The costs associated with the regional tender programme are not separately identifiable.

Hepatitis: Drugs

Baroness Randerson: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether NHS England intends to reassess the cap on new Hepatitis C treatments for patients; and if not, why not.

Lord O'Shaughnessy: The guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in relation to new direct acting antivirals specifically requires Operational Delivery Networks (ODNs) to prioritise hepatitis C patients on the basis of highest unmet clinical need. NHS England’s commitment to treat 10,000 patients in 2016-17, increasing to 12,500 in 2017-18 and rising to 15,000 in 2021 is in line with NICE’s estimate of activity included in the costing tools published to support implementation of the guidance. Each ODN has a number of treatment slots available each month to treat eligible patients. This is known as the monthly treatment run rate, and it ensures the expansion of treatment takes place equitably across the country. The High Court has considered NHS England’s approach. Its judgement in September 2016 stated “a monthly run rate is not an arbitrary cap but a legitimate way of giving effect to the guidance”. The planning approach for hepatitis C is set out in the NICE Technological Appraisals 363, 364 and 365.